Communication Link Termination Indication Signal and Secondary Signal Method and Apparatus

ABSTRACT

Upon detecting ( 101 ) at a two-way communication device that a communication link has been terminated, the two-way communication device can provide ( 104 ) a unique corresponding signal (such as a unique audible signal) to indicate such termination and can also provide ( 107 ) a secondary signal. Pursuant to one approach, a plurality of such unique signals ( 103 ) and/or secondary signals ( 106 ) are available and a specific one of the available signals is selected ( 102  and/or  105 ) for use in a given circumstance using a selection criteria of choice.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This comprises a continuation-in-part of:

COMMUNICATION LINK TERMINATION INDICATION SIGNAL METHOD AND APPARATUS as filed on Mar. 8, 2005 and having application Ser. No. 11/075,249; and

COMMUNICATION LINK CONNECTION INDICATION SIGNAL METHOD AND APPARATUS as filed on May 18, 2006 and having application Ser. No. 11/437,754, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to communication link usage and more particularly to communication link status indication.

BACKGROUND

Communication devices comprise a generally well-understood area of endeavor including, but not limited to, two-way communications based upon, for example, wireless cellular telephony and the like. In many communication systems the system infrastructure will assign or otherwise facilitate the allocation of wireless resources (such as, but not limited to, radio frequency carriers, time slots, spreading codes, and so forth) to support a given communication session. In other cases, as with a Bluetooth-enabled application setting, there is no infrastructure as such and the communication endpoints establish and maintain their own communication resource in a more dynamic and on-the-fly manner. The constituent elements and the totality of such allocated wireless resources can be viewed as a communication link.

There are times when confusion can arise with respect to whether a given communication link continues to persist or whether that link has, in fact, become terminated. For example, a given user may perceive, incorrectly, that a given communication link has been terminated when they conclude their conversation with another party but fail to take an appropriate action to actually effect the termination of that communication link (for example, some cellular telephones may require the user to assert an “END” button to cause the device to actively effect termination of a presently extant wireless communication link). When this occurs, the system will typically continue to monitor and track the duration of the communication link's persistence for accounting purposes. This, in turn, can lead to unexpected and undesired network usage, wasted resources, and higher-than-expected account billing for the user.

As another example, wireless communication links are subject to various operational circumstances that can lead to abrupt termination of the communication link. For example, a given user may move from one cell site to another cell site that has no currently available resources to commit to supporting a present conversation being conducted by that user. When this happens, there is typically no specific indication to the user that such a drop in services has occurred. Instead, the user may continue to engage in their part of the conversation until finally determining that they are receiving no response from the other party. Such circumstances can significantly negatively impact user experience, in part owing to the problem of determining how much information was actually conveyed to the other party in order to later continue that conversation with as little overlap or missed information content as possible.

As yet another example in these regards, a wireless communication device (such as but not limited to a cellular telephone) may participate in a short range wireless financial transaction (as when, for example, such a device serves as the enabling platform to facilitate a charge or debit with respect to a vending machine, an entrance control turnstile, a point-of-sale terminal, or the like. In such a case, sensitive and confidential data may be transmitted in order to facilitate the intended transaction. When such a communication link becomes interrupted for some reason, it can be important to the user to know and understand that such an event has occurred.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above needs are at least partially met through provision of the communication link termination indication signal and secondary signal method and apparatus described in the following detailed description, particularly when studied in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 comprises a flow diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 3 comprises a block diagram as configured in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, pursuant to these various embodiments, upon determining that a communication link for a communication device is terminating, a unique corresponding signal as well as a secondary signal is provided at the communication device. The unique corresponding signal serves to indicate termination of that communication link to a user of the communication device. In a preferred approach the corresponding signal is unique in that the signal is not used for other annunciation or notice purposes. For example, the communication device will not use this signal to also indicate the existence of an incoming call. The secondary signal, in turn, serves to provide other information or data of potential interest or importance.

By one approach the unique signal comprises an audible signal. In an optional approach, a plurality of candidate unique signals are available at the communication device. So configured, a user, for example, can select particular candidate unique signals to use in particular circumstances or settings to customize their user experience to their satisfaction. The unique signal itself can comprise any of a wide variety of audible or other content, including but not limited to musical content, verbal content, sound effects content, and so forth.

So configured, a user will receive a positive indication whenever a communication link being used by their communication device terminates. This, in turn, can be used to assure the user that the communication link is, in fact, operational at times when the user expects the communication link to be operational and terminated at times when the user expects termination to occur. If desired, these assurances are delivered in a customized and pleasing fashion that enhances and personalizes the user experience.

By one approach the secondary signal can comprise a user perceivable signal that comprises, for example, an audible and/or a visual component. If desired, this secondary signal can comprise informational content that corresponds to a financial transaction (such as, for example, a financial transaction that has just been supported by the aforementioned communication link). Such informational content might comprise, for example, information regarding that financial transaction, a party to that financial transaction, or even information regarding a potential future financial transaction, to note but a few salient examples in this regard.

These and other benefits may become clearer upon making a thorough review and study of the following detailed description. Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, pursuant to a corresponding illustrative process 100 a two-way communication device of choice (such as, but not limited to, cellular telephones and other two-way radios of various kinds and types, including platforms having voice and/or data modes of operation) detects 101 when a presently established communication link has terminated. This can comprise, for example, determining at the communication device itself that a wireless communication link is terminating. By one preferred approach, this can comprise determining that the wireless communication link has, in fact, actually terminated.

Various kinds of communication links are known in the art and consequently the details regarding detecting the termination of any particular communication will necessarily differ with variations in the enabling technology as will be well understood by those skilled in the art. In many cases the communication device will become aware of such termination when an otherwise present signal (such as a pilot signal, handshake signal, or other expected and recurrent signal) becomes absent. In other cases the communication device may become aware (or confirm) such termination by itself initiating a transmission to which no expected or required response occurs.

In the absence of detecting such termination, the communication device can continue with its other usual and ordinary activities. Upon detecting such termination, however, the communication device can optionally select 102 a unique signal (for example, from amongst a plurality of candidate unique signals 103). The unique signal will comprise, in general a user-discernable signal such as a unique auditory signal, visual signal, or haptic sensation (such as a vibration pattern).

By one approach the unique signal comprises an audible signal. The audio signal content itself can comprise any known or hereafter-developed audio signal content including but not limited to a monophonic series of tones, a polyphonic series of tones, and/or digitized audio (such as MP3-compatible digitized audio). Such audio signal content examples are all well understood in the art and require no further elaboration here. In a preferred approach such an audible signal can comprise any audible content that is capable of uniquely identifying a termination event as disclosed below. A non-exhaustive listing of representative examples would include:

-   -   a commercial jingle;     -   a commercial tagline;     -   a sound sample;     -   a sound effect sample;     -   verbal content; and     -   music (including both instrumental music and music featuring         sung lyrics).         The signal can essentially have any desired duration. In many         cases, it may be preferable to have a relatively short unique         signal having a duration that does not exceed some predetermined         maximum duration (such as, for example, three seconds, ten         seconds, three minutes, and so forth).

When a plurality of such unique signals are available to a given communication device, this selection step 102 will typically comprise selection of a particular signal from amongst the plurality of available signals. The selection criteria itself can vary with the needs and/or requirements of a given application and setting. To illustrate, one can select a particular unique signal from amongst a plurality of available unique signals as a function, at least in part, of at least one of:

-   -   a specific other communication party (for example, a specific         one of the available unique signals can be used when signaling         the termination of a communication link that had been used to         facilitate a communication with a specific third party);     -   a time of day (for example, one unique signal might be used to         indicate termination of communication links as may occur prior         to noon and another, different unique signal might be used to         indicate termination of communication links as may occur         following noon);     -   a random selection amongst the available unique signals;     -   the type of communication link that has been terminated (for         example, one unique signal might be used to indicate termination         of a cellular communication link and another, different unique         signal might be used to indicate termination of a Bluetooth         communication link);     -   a duration of the communication link prior to being terminated         (for example, one unique signal might be used to indicate         termination of a communication link that has been active for         less than five minutes and another, different unique signal         might be used to indicate termination of a communication link         that has been active for more than five minutes);         to name but a few.

Pursuant to these teachings, the communication unit then provides 104 a unique corresponding signal at the communication device to indicate termination of the communication link. In a preferred approach the provided unique signal will comprise the previously selected unique signal when a particular signal has been optionally selected from amongst a plurality of unique signals as described above. Various ways are known in the art to effect the provision of such unique signals as are mentioned above. Furthermore, these teachings are not particularly sensitive to the selection and/or use of any particular approach in this regard. Therefore, for the sake of brevity and the preservation of narrative focus, further detailed description of such techniques will not be provided here.

As a more specific example, these teachings can be employed to facilitate a unique audible notice as to when a wireless communication link has become terminated for whatever reason. More particularly, at least one audible signal can be provided at a two-way wireless communication device, which audible signal is uniquely used to identify termination of the wireless communication link but which is not to be used to identify other events, conditions, and/or states at this communication device. Upon then detecting at the two-way wireless communication device that a given wireless communication link has been terminated, the audible signal can be rendered audible to thereby provide a unique audible signal to a user of the two-way wireless communication device that the given wireless communication link has been terminated.

This process 100 then also provides for optionally selecting 105 a secondary signal (for example, by one approach, from amongst a plurality of available candidate secondary signals 106) and then providing 107 that secondary signal at the communication device. As used herein, the expression “secondary signal” will be understood to comprise informational content that is not uniquely and specifically related to the termination of a communication link. Hence, this secondary signal is seen to be “secondary” to the aforementioned unique signal that is uniquely associated with such an operational event. Aside from this, this secondary signal can comprise a wide variety of substantive content and/or forms.

Like the aforementioned unique signal, the secondary signal content can comprise any known or hereafter-developed audio signal content including but not limited to a monophonic series of tones, a polyphonic series of tones, and/or digitized audio (such as MP3-compatible digitized audio). A non-exhaustive listing of representative examples would again include:

-   -   a commercial jingle;     -   a commercial tagline;     -   a sound sample;     -   a sound effect sample;     -   verbal content; and     -   music (including both instrumental music and music featuring         sung lyrics).

The secondary signal can also comprise, if desired, in whole or in part, informational content that is user perceivable in ways other than through audible perception. This can comprise, for example, information that is visually perceptible. Such information might comprise, for example, alphanumeric information (such as text) and/or graphic renderings (such as still or animated images of real world objects, fanciful objects, and so forth).

By one approach (and as may be appropriate when the aforementioned communication link served to facilitate a financial transaction), the secondary signal may comprise informational content that corresponds to that financial transaction. Such information might comprise, for example, information regarding the financial transaction itself (such as the date of the transaction, the financial amount(s) involved, and so forth), information regarding another party to the financial transaction (such as the identity and/or contact information as corresponds to a party with whom the user just negotiated a purchase), and/or information regarding a potential financial transaction, to note but a few examples in this regard.

The information regarding a potential financial transaction might comprise, for example, a discount offer (in the form, for example, of a virtual coupon that can be printed and/or otherwise presented and negotiated in order to receive a corresponding discounted price), a rebate offer, and/or one or more stipulations regarding a corresponding promotion (such as details, terms, and conditions as pertain to one or more commercial promotions as pertain to the offering of some corresponding goods or services).

By one approach, such secondary content can comprise marketing content. That is, content that is designed and intended to achieve at least one of:

-   -   Enhancing a relationship between a marketing entity (such as a         retailer or manufacturer) and a consumer;     -   Encouraging customer loyalty and corresponding repeat business;     -   Acquiring new customers; and/or     -   Prompting a sale of goods and/or services;         to note but a few examples in this regard. Such marketing         content can be provided as secondary content in an unsolicited         manner if desired or can comprise so-called opt-in or         permission-based marketing content (where the recipient has         indicated a willingness to receive content of the kind being         offered). The present teachings will accommodate the latter         using an off-line registration process or the like and/or         through presentation of a cookie, flag, or other signal during         the course of using the connection link to indicate a         willingness to receive the secondary content at the present         time.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are various ways to provision such a two-way communication device with one or more such unique signals and secondary signals. Pursuant to one approach, the device can simply be loaded with one or more such signals as a factory preset. Pursuant to another approach, and referring still to FIG. 1, one or more such unique signals can optionally be downloaded 108 to the two-way communication device. Similarly, one or more such secondary signals can be downloaded 109 to the device as well. Such downloading can be facilitated in any of a wide variety of manners in accordance with well understood prior art technique, including by transmission of the corresponding data to the two-way communication device using a wireless carrier channel. By one approach, if desired, at least some of these downloads may be sourced by the corresponding communication endpoint of the above-described communication link.

Upon downloading such a signal, it will then typically be desirable to store 110 the downloaded unique signal(s) and to store 111 the downloaded secondary signal(s) for future use. Such storage can be conditioned as desired. For example, a pre-established limit may be provided to prevent storage and/or use of the downloaded signals beyond a given date, time, or event. In other cases, it may be preferable to permit unconditioned use of downloaded unique signals.

Optionally, and referring now to FIG. 2, upon provisioning and/or being otherwise informed of usage of such unique signals 201 with respect to a given two-way communication device, an appropriate accounting platform for the service provider can facilitate assessing 202 a corresponding fee. For example, a specific one-time fee may be assessed for each downloaded unique signal. As another example, a fee may be assessed for each time the unique signal is used by a given two-way communication device. As yet another example, a monthly fee may be assessed for so long as a given communication device retains the stored unique signal. Other possibilities exist as well as will be well recognized by those skilled in the art.

As noted above, these teachings can be usefully employed in conjunction with a wide variety of communications platforms. In many cases, as will be well understood by those skilled in the art, modern communication devices comprise partially or even wholly programmable platforms that can be readily configured to adopt and implement the described functionality. As a more specific illustrative example, and referring now to FIG. 3, a given communication device 300 can comprise, in relevant part, a communication link termination detector 301 of choice that operably couples to, for example, a transceiver 302. So configured, the communication link termination detector 301 serves, at least in part, to monitor the operation of the transceiver 302 and in particular to detect when a communication link (such as a wireless communication link) being used by the transceiver 302 has been terminated for whatever reason.

The communication link termination detector 301, in turn, operably couples to a signal driver 303 such as an audible signal driver and/or a visual signal driver as the case may be. The latter serves to drive a user perceivable signal output 304 of choice and as may be appropriate to compatibly audibilize and/or render visible the signal content of choice. In a preferred approach, the signal driver 303 operably couples to a memory 305 having one or more signals (such as audible and/or visual signals) stored therein. So configured, the signal driver 303 can select a particular one of a plurality of stored signals when the memory 305 has a corresponding plurality of such signals stored therein.

So configured, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that such an apparatus will readily detect the termination of a communication link and respond to such detection by providing a signal, such as an audible signal, that uniquely identifies the communication link termination event. This, in turn, permits a user of the device to be well informed with respect to the presence and/or absence of a viable communication link and can use and leverage that understanding with follow-on actions of choice to best accommodate a given condition. These teachings then further provide for a secondary signal that can provide the user with potentially useful information as may relate to the user, the just completed communication, or the like.

There may be times, however, when a user may wish to temporarily defeat the above-described operability. For example, a given user may wish to disable this capability for some period of time while engaged in a particular activity or while visiting a particular venue. As another example, a given user may wish to effect an early conclusion of a provided signal during playback. To accommodate such a need, if desired, a user-selectable signal driver inhibit 306 can be operably coupled to the signal driver 303 to permit and facilitate such an action. Such a mechanism can assume any suitable form factor and human-machine interface of choice, including but not limited to push buttons, sliding switches, touch screen displays, a voice recognition interface, and so on.

It should now be evident and clear that these teachings permit a user to be apprised of when a communication link, such as a wireless communication link, has been terminated. This information can be used in various ways. In particular, such an indication can be used to correctly inform a user who otherwise incorrectly believes that a given communication link is available and active. Such an indication, when expected but absent, can also serve to inform a user that a given communication link remains viable and active notwithstanding a contrary user impression. These teachings also permit secondary information to be provided to the user upon the termination of such a link. Such information can relate, for example, to the substance of the terminated communication. This, in turn, can offer a useful opportunity to provide the user with information that is likely to be considered both timely and relevant to that user.

Many users will appreciate that such information, important in and of itself, is also capable of being delivered in a personalized and highly customizable manner. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these benefits are attainable with little fundamental change to many communication devices being necessary. In general, these teachings can be implemented in a highly cost effective manner.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of modifications, alterations, and combinations can be made with respect to the above described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, and combinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventive concept. As but one example in this regard, in many application settings the described wireless device will be in relatively close proximity to the platform with which the device is communicating; close enough that a user of the device will be able to perceive and understand audible content and/or visual content as may be offered directly by the platform. To illustrate, the user is likely to be within inches or only a few feet of a soft drink vending machine when using a cellular telephone to authorize the purchase of a beverage from this machine. In such a case, if desired, these teachings will further accommodate using that platform (in addition to, or in lieu of, the user's wireless device itself) to provide the unique corresponding signals and/or the secondary signals described herein. This, of course, may offer improved sound quality, larger displays, and/or an otherwise richer user experience in this regard. 

1. A method comprising: determining that a communication link for a communication device has terminated; in response to determining that the communication link has terminated, providing: a unique corresponding signal at the communication device to indicate termination of the communication link; and a secondary signal at the communication device.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that a communication link for a communication device has terminated comprises determining that a wireless communication link has terminated.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining that a communication link for a communication device has terminated comprises determining, at the communication device, that the communication link has terminated.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a secondary signal at the communication device comprises retrieving audio signal content from a memory and using the audio signal content to provide the secondary signal.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein retrieving audio signal content from a memory comprises retrieving at least one of: a monophonic series of tones; a polyphonic series of tones; digitized audio.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the digitized audio comprises MP3-compatible digitized audio.
 7. The method of claim 4 wherein providing a secondary signal at the communication device comprises providing at least one of: a commercial jingle; a commercial tagline; a sound sample; a sound effect sample; verbal content; music.
 8. The method of claim 4 further comprising: downloading at least a portion of the secondary signal at the communication device to provide a downloaded secondary signal.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: storing the downloaded secondary signal.
 10. The method of claim 4 wherein the communication link served to facilitate a financial transaction and wherein the secondary signal comprises informational content that corresponds to that financial transaction.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the informational content comprises at least one of: information regarding the financial transaction; information regarding another party to the financial transaction; information regarding a potential future financial transaction.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the information regarding a potential future financial transaction comprises at least one of: a discount offer; a rebate offer; at least one stipulation regarding a promotion.
 13. The method of claim 4 wherein the secondary signal comprises, at least in part, visually perceivable informational content.
 14. A communication device comprising: a communication link termination detector; at least one stored audible signal; at least one stored secondary signal; an audible signal driver that is operably coupled to the at least one stored audible signal and that is responsive to the communication link termination detector, such that the audible signal driver causes the at least one stored audible signal to be rendered audible in response to termination of a communication link; a secondary signal driver that is operably coupled to the at least one stored secondary signal and that is also responsive to the communication link termination detector, such that the secondary signal driver causes the at least one secondary signal to be rendered perceivable to a user in response to termination of the communication link.
 15. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the communication link termination detector comprises means for detecting termination of a communication link.
 16. The communication device of claim 15 wherein the means for detecting termination of a communication link comprises means for detecting termination of a wireless communication link.
 17. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the at least one stored secondary signal comprises informational content that corresponds to a financial transaction.
 18. The communication device of claim 17 wherein the informational content comprises at least one of: information regarding the financial transaction; information regarding another party to the financial transaction; information regarding a potential future financial transaction.
 19. The communication device of claim 18 wherein the information regarding a potential future financial transaction comprises at least one of: a discount offer; a rebate offer; at least one stipulation regarding a promotion.
 20. The communication device of claim 14 wherein the secondary signal comprises, at least in part, visually perceivable informational content. 